As with previous watch collector dinners that I have organized so far this year, the event sponsors for Toronto are two of my favourite industry leaders; Glashütte-Original of Germany, and Girard-Perregaux of Switzerland. The luggage is still packed with gifts, but much lightened considerably as this was the third of four get-togethers in a period of about six weeks.

Upon arrival, the usual Toronto GTG restaurant was booked due an evening football (soccer) game. The Toronto Football Club hooligans were out in full force, and gave us little space for show & tell. However, within a short time, the restaurant manager was able to shuffle us to another WIS friendly restaurant ten minutes away, the Olive & Lemon Restaurant & Grill in the Annex section of Toronto. The venue is a casual and modern-cuisine Italian restaurant, and was also the site of a TZ GTG back in 2002.

Below are a few of the timepieces that were shown. In a nutshell, expect a lot of watches meant for Sea, and for Air. A few by classic companies as well as newbies from Switzerland, with a bit of Italian, German, Russian, and American flavors in some cases.

An Archemide perfectly sized for Kamran’s wrist. This was only the second time I have come across this watch in person. This time, I had the chance to do closer inspection. The Archimede is a German made watch. For the money, this is a great value watch, and still a TZ favourite.

This Archemide pilot-style watch as you can see has an automatic movement (base ETA 2824-2). I really like the clean dial.

A Tag-Heur Monaco black dial.

The Panerai 183 Blackseal. Even with a case size of 45mm, it wears quite comfortable for a small wrist size such as mine.
The Panerai Radiomir series styling is very similar in design to the first Panerai from the late 1930 to the 1940s. Created originally for the Royal Italian Navy. This photograph below is vintage 1945 Radiomir owned originally by a German officer from 1945 that I had come across at a GTG in San Diego back in 2006. One of the sweet rewards for attending/organising these watch collector get-togethers.

UN Maxi Marine Diver. A modern sized (about 42+mm) case and 200m water resistant rating makes this UN one of my favourites from the evening. Very well constructed.

Breitling Headwind with blue dial. This model is early 2003-2004, but continues to tick away accurately.

IWC Ingenieur.

Rolex Sea Dweller - a true classic. It's best qualities that I like are the 1200m water-resistant rating and the 'no cyclops' date magnifier.

Kenzo Nautilus and SINN U1

This watch is the "Kazim Kenzo" Nautilus. A common theme for the night is the use of ETA 2824x movements. This is what powers this divers also. A sporty case size of 44mm and bead-blasted stainless steel case makes it a great choice as a 'bargain" diver-sprots watch.

Poljot, um it's Russian. Maybe fellow Timezoner and owner, "Eric the Viking", can post some more info about this one.... I know very little about it, other than it is one of the more exotic timepieces I have come across, if only due to the dial/language. While most watch companies marketed pieces using English on the dial, this one makes no excuses to do so.

SINN U1. The power-watch of the evening. Again, fitted with an automatic 2824-2, this German dive watch is tough, large, shock resistant and tall. 43mm case size.

JLC Duoface. My travel watch with the manual winding JLC caliber 854 movement. I decided to put back the original ostrich straps after running most of the past year with a set of black crocodile straps. Still the only 'square/rectangular' watch I have managed to keep. And as you will see with the table shot further down, one of the few dress watch at this GTG.

Group shot of black dials

MIIK - Stingray dive watch... I have no notes about this one. It is fitted with an Omega mesh bracelet, and the watch itself was 'customized/reworked" by Mr. Bill Yao.

This is the smaller Omega Planet Ocean at 42mm. Another home-run design by Omega, with a respectable water-resistant rating of 600m and a co-axial escapement movement to power it.

Ocean 7 - another relatively unknown watch company based in Florida. This watch, I predict, will be giving several 'diver watch' type companies (i.e., Doxa) a run of serious competition. It's awesome.